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From keeping us energised over those long working hours to giving us the boost we need to get on with our ever-busy lives, it should come as no real surprise that more people than ever are seeking out that sweet-sweet caffeine fix to stave off sleep deprivation and help them stay awake till the end of their shift.
In fact, recent statistics show that global caffeine consumption is reaching new heights across Europe and the US, with data suggesting that Americans consume approximately 400 million cups of coffee a day, while UK coffee drinkers are putting back an estimated 98 million cups!
But is all of this coffee consumption a good thing? (Hint, no it’s not). After all, if there’s one thing that’s guaranteed to keep you wide awake and stop you from getting sleep on time, it’s choosing a cup of coffee over a non-caffeinated warm bedtime drink; not to mention the potential for developing a caffeine dependency if you like your daily cups of joe a little too much.
With this in mind, our team wanted to see which cities in the UK, Europe, and America consume the most coffee overall, and by proxy, may or may not have just the slightest hint of a caffeine addiction.
By analysing the number of coffee shops and coffee-related searches per 100,000 residents, the average price of a coffee, searches around getting better sleep, and more, across some of the world’s largest cities, we were able to rank which locations per continent were potential hotspots for late-night caffeine consumption.
So, whether it’s a cappuccino by the sea in Athens, an Americano on the go in Manchester, or a cup of Seattle's finest batch brew, here are the top cities around the world that enjoy sipping a coffee at night to combat poor sleep and daytime fatigue!
Caffeine-hungry cities in the UK
Starting in our home country first, we scoured the UK to find out which cities had a real hankering for coffee at night and throughout the day. And as you’ll see below, our top three locations might surprise you:
1. Manchester
Topping out the list at number one, we have the North’s biggest and busiest city – Manchester. Scoring a total caffeine rating of 62.98, Manchester’s coffee culture was always going to position it high on our list, but even we were surprised to see it beating out both London and Edinburgh for the top spot.
However, there’s a very good reason for this. First, Manchester has the second-highest number of coffee shops per 100,000 locals (42.3) and the third-highest number of searches around coffee at 69,216 per 100,000 – this is despite the city having the third-highest priced coffee on our list, with an average cup costing £3.72.
Clearly, the coffee in Manchester is pretty good, and the city actually came seventh for positive coffee shop sentiment (40). Sadly for Manchester, though, the city also placed second for searches around sleep, with residents in the area making 5,280 searches per 100,000 a year.
In other words, the coffee in Manchester might actually be too good, with residents unable to resist the smell of freshly ground beans well into the evening – that, or locals in Manchester need to put the brakes on their work and slow down just a little so they can prioritise their sleep and wellbeing.
2. Norwich
Next up, and only just behind Manchester, we have Norwich, which garnered a total caffeine dependency score of 61.31. Like Manchester, there’s a good reason Norwich placed so high on our UK list, having the fifth highest levels of coffee shop sentiment (46) and the fourth highest number of coffee shops per 100,000 at 36.9.
Coffee searches per 100,000 are also fairly high for Norwich residents, coming in at 35,168 per 100,000 locals per year. However, Norwich was also third for the number of sleep searches per month, sitting at an average of 5,021.
Much like Manchester, Norwich residents clearly have access to some of the best coffee in the country, as well as some of the cheapest – the average cup of joe costs as little as £3.39 (the 7th cheapest) – but again, it’s also clear that those indulging in their love of coffee might need to take it back a notch to get to bed on time.
3. Leicester
Finally, to round out our top three, we have Leicester. With a slightly lower caffeine score of 54.49, Leicester might not have the most coffee shops and coffee-related searches when compared to Manchester and Norwich, but it more than makes up for it by having the cheapest average coffee in the UK at just £2.69!
In fact, Leicester was fairly middle of the table for coffee shops and coffee searches per 100,000, placing 23rd for the former (17.7) and 17th for the latter (19,897). However, what coffee shops they do have are much loved by the locals, as Leicester had the best positive coffee shop sentiment out of our top 3 (and fourth best overall) at a solid 50.
But how does Leicester fare when it comes to searches around sleep? Well, residents are certainly getting more shuteye than Manchester and Norwich, though not by much. Placing 8th for sleep searches per 100,000 per year (3,146), many a Leicester local is looking for ways to improve their sleep hygiene.
Europe’s coffee drinking capitals
Hopping over the channel and onto the continent, let’s now take a look at the top cities in Europe for caffeine consumption. After all, given Europe’s proclivity for cafes and coffee consumption, you’d expect their scores to match those of the UK:
1. Athens
When it comes to coffee and Europe, you might be forgiven for expecting Rome or Paris to top the list. But as it turns out, the Greeks love their coffee just as much as their Mediterranean counterparts, especially in Athens, which scored a total of 54.81.
Athens absolutely doesn’t have the most coffee shops or coffee searches per 100,000 at only 12 and 19,608, respectively (placing it 16th for both these factors), but what the locals do have is a love of the coffee shops that do exist and a real desire to get better sleep.
With a positive coffee shop sentiment of 43, the fourth best overall, it’s safe to say that Athenians very much enjoy grabbing a cappuccino and chatting with friends in their local café. However, Athens also topped the list for sleep searches per 100,00 at a substantial 9,961.
Whether this is coffee-related or not, though, who can say? What we do know is that Athens also placed first for average working hours at 36.3, and it may just be that they need the extra caffeine hit to wrap up their shifts on time.
2. Prague
Capital of Czechia and one of Europe’s cultural coffee hubs, Prague earns its second place spot on our EU ranking with a score of 51.70. In Prague, coffee is no joke, and the city came first for coffee shops per 100,000 (40) and third for coffee-related searches per 100,00 (51,759).
Better yet (or worse if you love coffee a little too much), Prague has some of the cheapest coffee of all the cities we looked at, with the average cup costing as little as €2.94. Interestingly, however, the locals don’t rate their coffee shops that highly, with their positive sentiment score sitting at just 20 (20th worst).
So, if the residents of Prague aren’t huge fans of their local cafes, why did the city place so high for coffee consumption? Well, Prague had the third highest average working hours on our list at 34.1, and the 7th highest searches around sleep per 100,000 at 2,362, suggesting that the locals feel they need all the caffeine they can get to complete the work week.
3. Dublin
Lastly, for our European rankings at least, we travel a little closer to home and over to the Irish capital. With a caffeine score of 51.40, Dublin has the second highest number of searches around sleep per 100,000 at 7,940, as well as the second highest number of coffee searches at a staggering 134,939 (only beaten by Amsterdam’s shocking 232,972)!
Much like Prague, however, residents of the Irish capital are not overly fond of their coffee shops, with their positive sentiment score sitting at a low 21 (making it 19th worst), yet with 21.7 coffee shops per 100,000 spread throughout the city, they’re certainly making use of these caffeine dispensing locations.
And that’s perhaps the oddest part of Dublin’s reliance on caffeine. Unlike Athens and Prague, where long work hours could correlate to a higher caffeine consumption, average work hours in Dublin are just 31.9 (11th highest), suggesting there’s another reason behind the locals’ voracious sipping of this beloved drink.
Caffeine hotspots in the US
Wrapping up our world tour of caffeine capitals, we’re finishing off in the USA. Taking coffee drinking to a whole new level, Americans arguably consume the most coffee worldwide, so just where in the country do they knock back the most cups on average?
1. Las Vegas
The true city that never sleeps, Las Vegas (unsurprisingly), topped out our US ranking as the city with the highest caffeine dependency. Scoring a total of 64, Vegas residents and tourists alike have a deep craving for far more than one cup of joe per day.
To start, Vegas had the 5th highest number of coffee shops per 100,000 at 24.8, and the 9th highest number of searches around coffee at 199,371. Add to this an average coffee price of $5.56 (17th best), and you might be wondering why Vegas actually placed first.
Well, when it comes to poor sleep, Vegas is (unfortunately) king. With 38.9% of the population reporting insufficient sleep on a regular basis (2nd highest overall), residents of the US gambling capital clearly need more shuteye.
Indeed, Vegas came top for sleep searches per 100,000, though whether this is purely down to coffee consumption or the fact that they live in, well, Vegas, is definitely up for debate.
2. Seattle
Shooting up north into Washington state for our second American city, Seattle residents absolutely love a cup of joe on the regular, which is shown by their score of 60.69. Placing second for coffee shops per 100,000 (29.8) and coffee searches (424,989), the locals are absolutely indulging in their caffeine addiction every day!
Yet like Athens and Prague, positive sentiment around coffee shops in Seattle is middling, sitting at only 32 (15th highest), and the average cup costs $5.50 (14th best), so what’s leading to such vast consumption of coffee in this city?
Well, it could be the average weekly work hours of 34.2 (14th highest), or it could just be the fact that residents live right up north and need a pick-me-up in the colder months. Either way, with 32.4% of residents reporting insufficient sleep and 5,550 searches on the topic per 100,000 each year, we’d argue their interest in coffee is certainly playing its part.
3. Dallas
Rounding off our tour of caffeine capitals, we’ve got Dallas in Texas. Totalling a score of 56.78, Dallas locals absolutely love their coffee shops, with positive sentiment around them sitting at an impressive 53 – the best on our list!
And with Dallas, it’s most certainly quality over quantity for coffee shops, as residents have access to just 5.8 coffee shops per 100,000 (23rd lowest). Indeed, searches around coffee sit at just 112,183 (16th lowest), so why is caffeine dependency so high here?
Well, locals work an average of 35.8 hours per week (putting the city joint 1st), and at least 36.9% of locals report getting insufficient sleep on a regular basis. Combine this with 4,013 sleep searches per 100,000 yearly, and it’s clear that locals might be a little overly reliant on coffee to get through the working day.
What does all this say about our caffeine consumption?
Given what our data shows, it’s safe ot say that coffee drinking is most common in larger cities throughout the world. But why is this? What’s the link? Examining our study, our Senior Sleep Expert, Martin Seeley, had this to say:
“When it comes to waking up in the morning and indulging in our favourite drinks, coffee may very well be the world’s go-to choice. However, with our work-lives becoming that much more hectic and busy, it’s clear more and more people are turning to caffeine as a means to stay awake, especially in cities – and it’s not surprising why.
“With ready access to coffee at a moment’s notice and jobs that demand long hours in the office, caffeine is an easily accessible and potent way to wake us up quickly and get us through the day. However, this also creates a vicious cycle of caffeine dependency.
“Simply put, the more coffee we drink to stay awake, the harder it is for us to sleep in the evening, and the more coffee we’ll drink the next day to offset this sleep deprivation, so on and so forth until we’re basically relying on coffee to get us through the day.
“In reality, the best way to deal with his sleep deprivation is to cut the coffee and focus on practising good sleep hygiene. Not only will this help you sleep better, but you’ll ironically find you have far more energy throughout the day!”
How to sleep after caffeine
So, given how a coffee at night is a sure-fire way to leave you tossing and turning into the wee hours of the morning, is there any way to sleep after caffeine – at least until you break your coffee habit?
Here are our top tips on how to sleep after caffeine and how to get caffeine out of your system before you go to bed tonight:
- Get active – a crucial part of good sleep hygiene, getting active in the day and evening can actually help reduce the impact of caffeine on your system. This is because exercise produces adenosine, which helps you fall asleep at night. The more adenosine in your body, the harder it is for caffeine to operate, and the more tired you’ll feel in the evening.
- Stay hydrated – while a drink of water won’t flush your body of caffeine, it will keep you hydrated, which is exactly what you want to be when going to bed. Anyone who drinks a lot of coffee knows how often they need to go to the toilet, too much of which will leave you feeling dehydrated. Drinking a cup of water before bed, however, will offset this, helping you to feel more relaxed as you settle into bed for the night.
- Focus on relaxation – finally, if you really want to get to sleep while wired on caffeine, the best thing you can do is try to relax. Take a soothing shower before bed, meditate, do some stretches, whatever you prefer as a means of relaxing yourself. Although it might not send you off to sleep straight away, relaxing your body and mind will certainly help to speed up the process.
To be entirely honest, however, there is no real way to remove caffeine from your body after drinking it – all you can do is wait for your body to process it. Instead, the best way to sleep after caffeine is to avoid any coffee after midday and to swap out your evening drinks for relaxing alternatives, such as teas that encourage better sleep.
How long does caffeine affect sleep?
How long caffeine will affect your sleep entirely depends on how much caffeine you drink. Roughly speaking, it takes about 4-6 hours for your body to break down half the amount of caffeine you’ve drunk, so the more caffeine you drink in the day, the longer it will sit in your system.
This is why most sleep experts recommend avoiding caffeine after 1pm and limiting yourself to 1-2 cups of coffee per day, as this gives your body the time it needs to remove as much caffeine as possible before you go to bed.
Can coffee help sleep?
No, coffee absolutely does not help you sleep. Coffee, by its very nature, is a natural stimulant, and excessive consumption will only keep you awake at night.
Get better sleep with MattressNextDay
Those were our top caffeine capitals from around the world! As you can see, the world’s love of coffee is far and wide-reaching, as is our reliance on caffeine to stay awake.
However, if you want to get better sleep in general after cutting back on how much coffee you drink, then you should consider browsing the MattressNextDay range for a new mattress and bed.
From sleep-inducing memory foam mattresses to spacious double mattress options that let you spread out, we’ve something for everyone in our range. Get in touch today to find out more about our collection, and don’t forget to visit our sleep guide hub for more tips on creating the ultimate bedtime routine and the best foods to help you sleep at night.
